FAQs
What are the festival dates?
The festival begins with the Literary Quiz on Friday 26th September followed by Supper at Ockenden Manor on Friday 3rd October. The programme of events runs all day on 4th and 5th October.
Where is the Book Festival being held?
All events will be held in either the Queen’s Hall, The Talbot, Cuckfield or the Holy Trinity Church, Cuckfield, all within a short walk of each other. Please check your ticket for venue details of your event.
Cuckfield is easily accessible by car or train with the nearest station being Haywards Heath.
ACCESSIBILITY
Unfortunately, for this festival, sessions held upstairs in the Queen’s Hall or Upstairs at the Talbot are only accessible by stairs.
Occasionally Bookfest alters the location of sessions as necessary.
Queen’s Hall: The main entrance has level access leading to the Main Hall, Foyer/Bar area, kitchen, garden and accessible toilet. There is a ramp leading from the Fire Exit at the side of the hall and from the raised decking at the back into the garden.
There is an outside accessible toilet at the side of the hall. A flashing light will be activated in the accessible toilet when the fire alarm goes off.
There is a hearing loop in the Main Hall.
Holy Trinity Church: There is level access to the Church through the Tower door.
Step-free access is through the main entrance of the Old School; more toilets are accessible in the Old School via the car park west door, but those toilets do have steps.
There are also baby-changing facilities.
There is a hearing loop available.
If you have any questions about accessibility, please contact us at info@cuckfieldbookfest.co.uk.
HOW DO I BOOK TICKETS?
Please go to https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/cuckfieldbookfest
Bookings open on Saturday 16th August for Friends and Benefactors. Bookings open on Saturday 23rd August to the general public.
From Aug 23rd you can also purchase at JoJo Boutique, 45 High Street, Cuckfield (10am – 5pm, Monday to Saturday).
All events are priced at £14 unless otherwise stated.
DISCOUNTS
An automatic 10% off discount will be deducted when you buy for 5 or more different £14 events (Quiz excepted). (The discount is shown before payment)
CAN I PURCHASE A TICKET ON THE DOOR?
While we recommend advance booking for all events, if seats or cancellations are available, you can buy these on the door on the day (cash or card), at the Queen’s Hall.
If seats are available people aged 12-24 can pay £7 for any £14 event, (excepting the quiz).
CAN TICKETS BE EXCHANGED?
Where possible we usually allow tickets to be exchanged for another event of equal value where this is ahead of the Bookfest weekend.
See https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/my-bookings and you can view your event tickets or make an exchange up to a day before the event.
ARE TICKETS REFUNDABLE?
Under normal circumstances, tickets are non-refundable unless the event in question has been cancelled. If refunds become necessary, TicketSource or Cuckfield Bookfest will refund the ticket cost via the same card or other method used for purchase.
REFUND PROTECTION
You can opt to purchase refund protection when you buy your tickets. The optional Refund Protection when booking online is provided by Xcover via TicketSource, not Cuckfield Bookfest and (where it falls outside the 14-day cooling-off period) is non-refundable. Please see their terms and conditions for further details but note that cover is limited.
Details can be found at https://help.ticketsource.com/en/article/refund-protection-xcover-how-to-claim-osy4r/ and https://www.xcover.com/en/pds/TermsandConditionsv4
Are there eating opportunities in Cuckfield?
Yes, there are coffee shops, pubs, and restaurants throughout the village.
Is there an ATM in the Village?
Yes, you can find an ATM inside the Co-op at the Whitemans Green end of the village.
What is parking like in Cuckfield?
There is a public car park in Broad Street plus on street parking in the village. If using the Broad Street car park, a parking disc is required Monday – Saturday. This can be obtained from several village shops (indicated on the board in the car park).
You can also park in Warden Park Secondary Academy car park (Broad St, Cuckfield, RH17 5DP) which is a 10 minute walk to Queen’s Hall.
Please ask at the information desk inside the Queen’s Hall if you have any problem parking.
HOW DO THE AUTHORS’ SESSIONS WORK?
Each author either introduces themselves or is introduced by a moderator (or interviewer). They then may read a page or two of their book to give the audience a flavour of it and then discuss it with the moderator. The last 15 minutes of the session consists of questions from the audience. Sometimes the author talks alone and describes their book and how it came to be written.
Is it necessary to have read the books featured?
No, absolutely not. It might be interesting to do so for the Big Book Group but not by any means essential.
Is it possible to buy books?
Waterstones will be selling books throughout the Book Festival from The Queen’s Hall and during events at The Talbot Hayloft.
IS PHOTOGRAPHY / VIDEOGRAPHY PERMITTED?
No photography or video is permitted. A festival photographer will be taking photographs at the sessions.
Can I volunteer for the festival?
We are always happy to welcome volunteers at Cuckfield BookFest. If you are interested in signing up, please do contact us on our Contact Page
JOJO BOUTIQUE DISCOUNT
As well as providing in-person advance ticket sales, Jo Jo’s Boutique, www.jojoboutique.co.uk is also supporting Bookfest with a generous discount scheme.
Jojo are offering 10% off in person purchases for anyone showing their ticket (on phone or paper) on Saturday 4th & Monday 6th October, AND they will also donate another 10% of the net price to Bookfest.
How is the Book Festival organised?
There is a Board consisting of Shauna Bevan, Gavin Jamieson, Andrew Lownie, Sarah McConnell, Sheila Mortimer, Julia Webb, Allie Young and Carol Jarvest, who form a Community Interest Company (CIC) registered with Companies House.
This means that the Book Festival is entirely focussed on providing benefit to the community, local businesses and the authors who come. The main job of organising the festival is carried out by a Management Team, led by Sheila Mortimer. The team takes care of programming, marketing, sponsorship, finance, logistics, catering and volunteers.
How is the Book Festival funded?
We rely on the generosity of local companies and organisations, several of whom have supported us loyally since we began. Ticket sales obviously are extremely important for providing income.
